New Orleans writer, Grace King, enjoyed a two-decade friendship with Sam and Livy Clemens and their daughters, Susy, Clara, and Jean.  King visited the family in Hartford in 1887 and 1888 and in Florence in 1892.  She wrote to her family about the Twain homes, meals, dress, and habits.  From New Orleans, she exchanged letters with each Clemens, especially Livy, with whom she was a confidante.  As each family member died, she kept in touch with the living, right through Clara's brief messages around 1918.  Miki Pfeffer will read from some of King's captivating letters that offer a fresh view of the Clemenses and of mark Twain as loving homebody, father, and generous friend to this ambitious southern woman.

Miki Pfeffer holds a Master's Degree in English Literature and a Ph.D. in Urban History from the University of New Orleans.  She is a visiting scholar at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana.  Her book, Southern Ladies and Suffragists: Julia Ward Howe and Women's Rights at the 1884 New Orleans World's Fair, was awarded the 2015 Eudora Welty Prize for scholarships in Women's Studies and Southern Studies from the Mississippi University for Women.  Her current mission is to see Grace King's letters published and appreciated, and she offers the collection of the family of Twain in a book to be published in 2019.